


Pride

by SugdenLovesDingle



Series: Robron Week 2020 [5]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family Fluff, M/M, supportive parents, teenage seb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24191140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Robron week 2020Day 5 Celebration + “You remembered.”The Sugden-Dingle family goes to Pride together
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Robron Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740202
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Pride

“Dads?” Seb said softly as he stepped off the bottom step of the stairs and sort of hovered near it, waiting for his parents to look at him.

It was late, nearing midnight, and Robert and Aaron were dozing on the sofa together. Too lazy and comfy to get up and go to bed.

“Yeah?” Robert replied, craning his head to look at his son properly. “What’s up?”

“Are uh… do… uhm… I uh…” Seb stammered.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Robert asked, sitting up a little straighter, waking Aaron up in the process.

“Nothing! Nothing is wrong, I promise.”

“Are you sure? You can tell us. Are you in trouble?”

“No! Nothing like that.” Seb assured them. “I just… wanted to talk to you… and tell you something.”

“Tell us what?” Aaron asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I uh… well… uhm… I… Have you ever been to pride?”

“Pride? As in… gay pride?” Robert asked carefully, sensing where the conversation was going.

“Yeah… there is a parade in Hotten soon… and in Leeds too.”

“And you want to go?” Aaron asked.

“I… Yeah… I think so.”

“Ok… Well those parades are open to everyone. You can go with Isaac or another mate maybe? Or is there someone… special you wanted to go with?”

“I want to go with you.” Seb said, walking further into the room and curling up in the arm chair. “Both of you.”

“Us?” Robert asked “Why? Wouldn’t you rather go with your mates?”

Seb bit his lip, a habit he’d picked up from Aaron over the years.

“No… because… if I go with you… I won’t be the only uhm… non… straight… person in the group.”

Robert blinked a few times trying to process what he just heard. Did his 14 year old son really just come out to him?

“You’re saying you… aren’t straight?”

“I… No… I don’t think so.”

“Ok. That’s… that’s fine. Thank you for telling us. That was really brave, wasn’t it Rob?” Aaron cut in when Robert’s brain seemed to have short circuited.

“Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I uh… I’m really proud of you. And we love you no matter what.”

“I’m not gay.” Seb told them.

“Nobody said you were.” Aaron replied.

“I know… I’m just… I don’t really know what I am… yet. I like girls… I think… but I uh… kind of had a boyfriend… Have…”

“Yeah? Do you want to tell us his name?”

“Adam…”

“Adam? How do you know him? From school?”

Seb nodded.

“He’s a year above me. But… it’s all… complicated.”

“Yeah? Why? Is he not out?”

“No… He is… but I’m not. Or… I wasn’t I suppose.”

“Hey, listen to me,” Robert started, snapping out of the fog in his head his son’s coming out had caused. “No matter how cute he might be, or how much you like him, don’t let him force you to come out. Nobody should force you to come out. If or when you do that, is your choice and your choice alone.” He insisted.

“I know, dad. Nobody is forcing me, I promise. I… want to do it. I’m just… not entirely sure what to come out as… I’m… not really sure what works for me…”

Robert nodded and relaxed a little.

“Ok. That’s ok. That’s fine. You’re fourteen, you’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out.”

“Yeah, I know… How old were you when you knew you’re bi?”

Ever since Seb was old enough to understand he had two dads instead of a mum and dad like most of his friends, they’d talked about how some boys loved boys, some girls loved girls, and some liked both. As he got older they did their best to teach him about different sexual orientations and gender identities, with help from some of their friends and family. 

None of that however, had prepared Robert for this particular question.

“I uh… was a little older than you when I first properly liked a boy…” he settled on.

“Did you have a boyfriend in school too?”

“Uh no… not in school no. He uhm worked on my dad’s farm.”

“Did granddad know he was your boyfriend?”

“Uh… not really, no.”

“Oh come on Seb, you know he’s old, don’t make him think that far back. He can’t remember what happened in the dark ages of his youth.” Aaron joked, trying to get their son to drop the subject of Robert’s first crush on a boy.

“You remembered. You told me about your first boyfriend.” Seb said, reminding him of a conversation they’d had not long ago when he’d overheard Aaron mentioning going to see Jackson to Chas.

“Yeah, well, I’m not as old as he is, am I?”

Seb rolled his eyes.

“You’re still old though.”

Aaron laughed.

“Go on, clear off you. It’s a school night, you should be in bed. Just like your sister.”

“I’ve got first and second period off tomorrow. My maths teacher is sick.”

“Still, your bed is waiting for you. Your dad and I are going to head to bed soon too.”

Seb sighed and unfolded himself from the chair.

“Fine…” he got up and walked to the stairs, lingering on the bottom step. “Dads?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you come with me then? To pride?”

Aaron looked at Robert who swallowed thickly but nodded.

“If you’re really sure you want to be seen with your parents at pride, then yeah, of course we will.”

Seb smiled.

“Thanks dads. Night.”

“Goodnight, mate.” Aaron said and elbowed Robert in the ribs.

“Yeah goodnight sweetheart. We love you.”

“Love you too.” Seb said and made his way upstairs.

Aaron waited until he heard Seb’s bedroom door open and close before turning to his husband.

“Are you ok?”

Robert rubbed his face and sighed.

“Will be.”

“Maybe you should tell him. About Jack. And that lad.”

“I can’t. Vic and Diane have told him all these nice stories about him and how he was such a great man and loving father… I can’t ruin that.”

“It’s not ruining, it’s telling the truth. It might make him understand why you don’t like talking about him and why you buried your attraction to men for so long.”

Robert shook his head.

“I can’t. I’ll do anything and everything for him, you know I will, but I just… want the past to stay in the past. If I tell him, I have to tell Vic and Diane, and they’ll tell the rest of the village…and just… I can’t handle that. Not now anyway.”

“Alright. Fair enough.” Aaron grabbed the remote from the table and turned off the tv. “Come on, let’s go to bed, it’s getting late.”

Over the next few weeks the three of them decided to go to Leeds pride together. Robert had reasoned that if they were going to do it, they were going to do it well, and go to the biggest parade in the area.

So here they were now, walking, or rather shuffling, through Leeds with thousands of other people, trying to catch a glimpse of the parade. It was a little too much for Robert’s liking but Seb was having the time of his life so he’d put up with it for his son’s sake.

“You know when you were little, I’d just put you on my shoulders so you could see over the crowds.” Robert told Seb, slinging an arm around his shoulders, while the other one was holding onto Aaron.

“Please don’t try that now… You’ll do your back in and dad will have to carry you home.”

Robert laughed.

“Oh you’ll make your dad deal with me on his own then?”

“Yeah, he’s used to it.” Seb joked and high fived Aaron as the three of them laughed. “Look! They’re selling rainbow stuff there!” he said excitedly, pointing at a few market stalls near them.

“See anything you like kid?” the stallholder asked. “I’ve got shirts, flags, pins, jewellery… you name it. My husband can do piercings right here if you like.”

“He’s 14, so we’ll pass on the piercings for a few more years, thanks.” Robert told the man.

“Alright, fair enough. Maybe a shirt then? These are popular today.” He held up a shirt with a rainbow heart on it.

“What do you think Seb? What do you want?” Aaron asked.

“I like this.” He pointed at a pair of dog tags in a display case. One rainbow, the other with the word pride cut out of the metal. “I could wear that every day. Even to school.”

“It is nice.” Aaron agreed. “Don’t you think, Rob?”

“Yeah, yeah it is.” Robert replied, somewhat distracted. “How much for that shirt?” he asked, pointing at a shirt with three hearts on the chest in the bi flag’s colours.

“Fifteen. Two for twenty five. If you and the husband want to match? Or father and son?”

“Ah no, I’m the only bisexual in the family.”

“You should get that printed on a t shirt.” Aaron jokingly suggested.

“I can sort that for you in my shop.” The man offered. “Stop by sometime this week or order online and I’ll get you that shirt.” He gave them his business card.

“No… I think I like the one with the hearts.”

In the end all three of them ended up buying a shirt. Aaron’s was a black shirt with paint streaks made to look like a rainbow flag, and Seb got one saying I love my queer dads, as well as the dog tags he’d fallen in love with.

The stallholder let them change in the tent behind his stall and took a few pictures when Seb demanded they needed a pride family photo.

“I’m going to post them on my insta.” Seb announced, tapping away at his phone.

“No, Seb, don’t do that. Maybe just post a selfie.” Aaron said, knowing Robert didn’t like to be in the public eye and have potential and existing Home James clients see him that way.

“No, it’s fine. Post it. We’re allowed to celebrate who we are, right? Especially today.” Robert told them.

Seb smiled and turned his attention back to his phone.

“#LeedsPride with the parents. #LGBT #Pride #loveislove.” He said as he typed and then turned the screen to show his parents.

“Looks good. Post it.” Robert told him. He knew Seb had been taking pictures and posting them online all day and it filled him with pride and happiness to see his 14 year old son so confident about his sexuality – even if he hadn’t figured it all out yet.

Suddenly a boy of around Seb’s age tapped him on the shoulder and with the way Seb’s face lit up, Robert assumed this was the infamous Adam.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“Your insta. You keep posting pics. I just… stalked your insta to see where you were. I recognised the market from your last pic and I was close by so…”

Seb blushed but both boys were smiling brightly.

“Should we give them some space?” Aaron asked Robert who nodded.

“Seb, your dad and I are going to get a coffee over there.” He pointed at a café on the other side of the road. “Come find us in there when you’re done catching up with your mate, yeah?”

“Alright dad.” Seb replied, not really paying attention to anything but the boy standing in front of him.

“Our little boy has his first crush.” Aaron said as he and Robert walked over to the café. “It seems like only yesterday that he was playing with his teddies in his pillow fort in the living room.”

“I know. He’s growing up so fast.”

“I don’t like it.” Aaron complained. “Makes me feel old.”

Robert laughed, pulled out his phone and snapped a picture as he kissed Aaron’s cheek.

“I still think you’re as sexy as the day we met.” He opened the Instagram app on his phone. He rarely used it but today felt like a special occasion he wanted to share with the world.

Going on twenty years with this man and I love him more each day. #Pride #loveislove #loveofmylife


End file.
